Jaguars’ Trevor Lawrence: ‘I Wish I Played Better To Give Us a Shot’ at End of Season

Trevor Lawrence puts part of the Jaguars' late-season collapse on himself.

The Jacksonville Jaguars have a lot of reasons they can point to for their late-season collapse. 

Coaching mistakes, mistakes on the field, injuries, and of course how the team was constructed. 

According to quarterback Trevor Lawrence, who dealt with three different injuries over the final six weeks of the season, his own play during their 1-5 stretch is another area one can point to -- injuries or not.

"I think that's a part -- I know that's a part of the sport. And there's no excuses when you go on the field. When you step on the field on Sunday, you're expected to perform, especially as a quarterback, you know, and a guy that -- I touch the ball, every play, you know, have a big impact on the game," Lawrence said this week on NFL Network. 

"And you got to play well. To win, your quarterback has to play well in this league. And, you know, that's one obvious regret I have is that I don't think I played my best at the end of the season. And I wish I played better to give us a shot.

Lawrence finished the season completing 65.6% of his passes for 4,016 yards, 21 touchdowns and 14 interceptions, along with seven lost fumbles. Lawrence also missed his first career start as he dealt with four different injuries, with Lawrence seemingly having to limp to the finish of the season.

During the Jaguars' 1-5 finish, Lawrence missed the first game of his career and it ended up being the only game the Jaguars won. Among 31 quarterbacks with 100 dropbacks from Weeks 13 to 18, Lawrence ranked No. 11 in big-time throw rate, No. 29 in turnover-worthy play rate, No. 25 in adjusted completion percentage, and No. 23 in passer rating.

"So that's something where I gotta learn from and, you know, if I'm on that field, and whether I'm banged up, or what you're going to be banged up within the season, no matter how healthy you try to stay or how much success you have doing that, you're gonna have to play through some stuff," Lawrence said. 

"So, you know, I gotta find a way to play better through that. And, you know, I'm looking forward to get another opportunity next year, obviously, but I think we definitely took some steps in the right direction, even though it didn't finish the way we wanted. 

There were bright spots for Lawrence in 2023, too, but nobody wants to hear about them considering the way their season ended. Lawrence is aware of this, too.

"You know, I think as individually there's things that I wanted to get better at; accuracy, throwing the ball down the field, some situational things that I think I did improve on and it gets outshined obviously, by the way the season finished, but I gotta keep just taking those steps in the right direction," Lawrence said. "And us as a team, we got to keep doing that."